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I came to this painting via Christies’ online auction of Australian Art, it is the first of three versions, it was purchased by Dr Tom Rosenthal from Boyd in the 1960s. Later Rosenthal sold it to a collector who sold, or gave, it to the Art Gallery of NSW in 1986. Boyd meanwhile had painted a copy for Rosenthal, and another copy for Rosenthal’s wife Ann.

The copy belonging to Ann Rosenthal is for sale online through Christies: The expulsion

The copy given to Tom Rosenthal was also sold through Christies in August 1994 and then again in 2005: The expulsion

It’s fascinating that in the first painting, done in the 1940s, Adam and Eve have a kind of awkward realism, whereas the angel is wide eyed and monstrous. In the two copies, the figures of Adam and Eve, and the angel are treated loosely, binding them more tightly together in agony.

Here are the three different paintings put together on a Pinterest board: